News

June 2017 – Chaffetz Lindsey partner Andy Frischknecht is featured as an expert on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) in the June/July 2017 issue of Practical Law: The Journal, published by Thomson Reuters. In a wide-ranging Q&A, Andy discusses the scope of sovereign immunity in the US under the FSIA and reviews some key recurring issues in this area, which is a major focus of Andy’s practice.

This expert Q&A was timed to coincide with Practical Law’s recent release of a Practice Note titled The Commercial Activity Exception to Sovereign Immunity Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which Andy co-authored with associate Farrell Brody. The Practice Note examines the requirements for jurisdiction under the FSIA’s “commercial activity” exception to sovereign immunity, codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2). The “commercial activity” exception is the most significant FSIA exception to sovereign immunity and provides for jurisdiction over actions against foreign states in US courts where the plaintiff’s claims are based upon a foreign state’s commercial activity, or an act in connection with such commercial activity.